Judgment disappointing, relief at Labour’s scrapping of Stonehenge tunnel scheme

16 October 2024 – The Judgment from the Court of Appeal was handed down this afternoon. Unfortunately it has dismissed the application for Judicial Review with the exception of whether interpretation of the World Heritage Convention is a matter for the court, but then dismissed this argument ‘on its merits.’ [1]

John Adams, chair of the Stonehenge Alliance, and one of the directors of Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site Ltd, the company that took the action, said:

“While we are disappointed with the judgment, we are encouraged that public funding for the scheme has been cancelled. We welcome the new Labour government’s realisation that it was unaffordable as well as highly damaging. [2]

“The fact that the court will only look at mistakes in process and not the veracity of evidence or arguments makes the job of challenging damaging developments extremely difficult.

“This judgment appears to give already powerful ministers even greater leeway to be ignorant of the facts.  We shall be considering our options, including any application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, as this case could have wider implications.”

NOTES

[1] Link to the judgment here.

[2] The newly elected government cancelled the road widening scheme in July.  Without the Stonehenge Alliance’s decade-long campaign the Stonehenge World Heritage Site would be a construction site today.

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